The cyclone was placed on the highest level, Red Alert, by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) on Thursday. Wind speeds of up to 220 km/h are expected, it said. The World Weather Organization (WMO) in Geneva warned that the dangerous cyclone would continue to gain strength on the way to the coast.
According to WMO calculations, “Mocha” made landfall near Sittwe in Myanmar on Sunday noon. The city is about 180 kilometers southeast of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, which is also likely to be hit hard. Around one million Rohingya refugees live there in makeshift accommodation. They have fled the mostly Buddhist Myanmar since 2017 after concerted attacks by the military on the Muslim minority.
Food, medicine and water in stock
A possible evacuation of the areas would be prepared for hundreds of thousands of people, said an employee of the authority that takes care of Rohingya. People have been urged to stay away from the shores. According to the WMO, tidal waves of up to two and a half meters are expected there. Heavy rain could also trigger landslides.
Ongoing precautions include emergency rations of food that have been safely stored in both Cox’s Bazar and the Rakhine region of Myanmar. In the refugee camps, as a precaution against flooding, sewage ditches were deepened, hillsides secured, housing strengthened and volunteers trained as emergency workers, as reported by the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
IOM has renovated dozens of shelters in Bangladesh that can accommodate thousands of people. WHO is preparing over 30 medical response teams, 40 ambulances, and cholera-fighting and emergency surgery equipment. Hundreds of thousands of water purification tablets were also prepared. One wants to be prepared for the worst, according to a spokeswoman for the WHO.
Memories of devastating storm 2008
In Rakhine State in western Myanmar, people from rural areas have already sought refuge in schools and monasteries, among other places, news site Myanmar Now reported. The storm is an additional burden for the population in former Burma: a junta has ruled there since a military coup in 2021. Hundreds of thousands are displaced in their own country.
Just a few days ago, people thought of the worst tropical storm to date in the region: According to estimates, 15 years ago – on May 2 and 3, 2008 – Cyclone Nargis killed almost 140,000 people in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta. The devastation was tremendous. The then ruling junta blocked foreign aid for the desperate people for weeks. “Many here are afraid that ‘Mocha’ could become as strong as ‘Nargis’,” said local resident Myo Myo. “We can only wait.”
